GNSS phone-based automated emergency assistance calling for vehicular applications

ABSTRACT

A phone device monitors an accelerometer while traveling in a vehicle to detect unusually large excursions or sudden changes in acceleration magnitude. When such an excursion is detected, the phone device then compares the excursion with the output of other components in the vehicle that can confirm or dispel a finding that the vehicle has experienced a collision. Once a likely collision has been detected, the phone device goes into an automated assistance mode where the use can be voice prompted as to their condition. If no response is received, the phone device can automatically call emergency services for assistance, providing the present location of the phone device. In less severe incidents, the phone device can automatically offer immediate access to other services, include a towing service, an attorney, an automobile service, among others. The service providers are based on a geo-fenced region in which the phone device is located.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/394,129, filed Apr. 25, 2019, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 10,708,411on Jul. 7, 2020, which was a conversion of, and claimed the benefit ofprovisional application No. 62/662,509, filed Apr. 25, 2018, theentireties of each which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to automated systems thatassist motor vehicle operators upon occurrence of a collision or similarincident, and more particularly relates to detecting the occurrence of acollision in a mobile device transported inside the vehicle, and, basedon the nature of the collision, identifying specific related servicesbased on the location of the incident and presenting the options to theuser.

BACKGROUND

There are currently some services available to motorists that can assistmotorists in the event of a collision or similar event. For example,General Motors offers the On-Star™ service that can connect a vehicleoperator to the On-Star™ service in the event of an air bag deploymentor other vehicle indication of a collision or accident. These servicesare typically subscription services for which the vehicle operator paysa monthly fee, and they are limited to a particular vehicle. Obviously,then, people in vehicles that do not include the communication equipmentto support these services are unable to utilize those services in theevent of a collision. Furthermore, in the event of an incident, a driveror vehicle passenger may desire to have ready access to other servicesthat are not available through these subscriptions. Examples of otherservices can include a towing service, medical services, and so on.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for a systemthat assists a vehicle operator more comprehensively in the event of acollision incident.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the accompanying figures like reference numerals refer to identicalor functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, togetherwith the detailed description below, and are incorporated in and formpart of the specification to further illustrate embodiments of conceptsthat include the claimed invention and explain various principles andadvantages of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a vehicle system diagram including a phone device that detecta collision event, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a mapping diagram that shows geo-fenced regions definingservice providers for various services that may be necessary in theevent of a collision in the geo-fenced region, in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart diagram of a method for an application programbeing operated on a phone device to detect and respond to a collisionincident, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart diagram of a method or process for detecting acollision at a phone device traveling in a vehicle, in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 5 is an event comparison showing an acceleration event detected bya phone that is not confirmed by an external acceleration sensor, inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 6 is an event comparison showing an acceleration event detected bya phone that is confirmed by an external acceleration sensor, inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 7 is an event comparison showing an acceleration event detected bya phone that is not confirmed by a corresponding change in speed, inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 8 is an event comparison showing an acceleration event detected bya phone that is confirmed by a corresponding change in speed, inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a system diagram of a system for assisting a user in the eventof an accident or collision, in accordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 10 shows a block schematic diagram of a phone device 1000 that canbe configured to detect and respond to experiencing a vehicularcollision, in accordance with some embodiments

Those skilled in the field of the present disclosure will appreciatethat elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarityand have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, thedimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggeratedrelative to other elements to help to improve understanding ofembodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein. The details of well-knownelements, structure, or processes that would be necessary to practicethe embodiments, and that would be well known to those of skill in theart, are not necessarily shown and should be assumed to be presentunless otherwise indicated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventive embodiments of the disclosure include a method, and asystem that performs the method, for detecting and responding to acollision incident by a phone device. The method steps includemonitoring an acceleration of a vehicle in which the phone device islocated as indicated by an output of at least one accelerometer. Themethod further performs the step of detecting, in the output of the atleast one accelerometer, an acceleration event indicative of a collisionevent being experienced by the vehicle. The method further performs thestep of, responsive to the acceleration event, the phone deviceautomatically issuing a voice prompt to elicit a response from a vehicleoccupant. When no voice response is received within a preselected timeframe, the phone device automatically calls an emergency services numberand issues a pre-recorded message indicating a collision has occurred,and further issues location information to an emergency services callcenter with severity of the accident. When a voice response is received,the phone device performs an action corresponding to the voice response.The phone device also displays a menu of additional optional actionsthat can be taken, wherein at least one of the additional options isbased on a location of the collision event.

FIG. 1 is a vehicle system 100 including a phone device 104 that detectsan occurrence of a collision event, in accordance with some embodiments.The phone device 104 can be a smart phone device including an operatingsystem that can support and run application programs, as is known. It iscommon for such devices to include an array of component systems for useby application programs, including, for example, accelerometers,magnetometers (electronic compass), local and personal area networkingtransceivers (e.g. WiFi, BLUETOOTH), and a satellite location receiver(e.g. GPS), to name a few. These components can operate simultaneouslyand independently, providing data to a controller running an applicationprogram as needed.

The phone device 104 can be operated by a person such as thedriver/operator or other occupant of the vehicle 102, and it can includean accelerometer 106 and a satellite location receiver 108 such as aGlobal Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver which can monitormultiple satellite constellations such as Global Positioning System(GPS) form U.S., Galileo from European, GLONASS from Russia, BeiDou fromChina, etc.; and a mapping program 109 that allows the phone device todetermine a road location of the phone device 104/vehicle 102 based onits geolocation coordinates as indicates by the satellite locationreceiver. The accelerometer 106 can be, for example, a three axismicro-electromechanical switch (MEMS) accelerometer that provides anoutput of acceleration in digital form for each of three orthogonalaxes. Alternatively, or additionally, the phone device 104 can becommunicatively linked to an external acceleration sensor 112 that canbe located in the vehicle 102. The communication link 116 can be, forexample, a local wireless (radio) link 116 using an established wirelessnetworking protocol (e.g. WiFi, BlueTooth, Zigbee, etc.). Similarly, thephone device 104 can be linked to the vehicle computer/instrumentationsystem 110 over a communication link 114, and can receive informationsuch as, for example, indication of deployment of an air bag restraint,speed at time of collision, and so on. In some embodiments a dongledevice 118 having a local or personal area networking transceiver can beattached to the vehicle diagnostic connector to interface with thevehicle's on board computer system. By being interfaced with the vehiclein this manner, the dongle can read information such as whether an airbag has been deployed. In some embodiments the dongle device can beprogrammed to read specific codes generated by the vehicle's system sothat the dongle device can recognize particular codes that may berelevant to determining whether a collision has occurred. The externalaccelerometer sensor 112 can be incorporated into the dongle device 118,or it can be a separate device that is affixed to a location in thevehicle 102.

In the event of an actual collision, the phone device 104 and externalsensor 112 may experience significantly different magnitudes ofacceleration due to the phone device 104 being located on a person (e.g.in a pocket). The acceleration change experienced by the phone device104 may therefore have a magnitude that is less indicative of acollision than the acceleration change experienced in the vehicle 102.Thus, the phone device 104 can, in some embodiments, compare theacceleration magnitudes indicated by both the internal accelerationsensor 106 and the external sensor 112 to determine and verify theoccurrence of a collision event. Such a comparison can also allow thephone device 104 to avoid false collision sensing such as when the userof the phone device 104 drops the phone device 104 since the externalsensor 112 will not indicate a corresponding change in acceleration.Alternatively, in some embodiments where an external sensor 112 is notpresent, the internal acceleration sensor 106 can be compared to thespeed indicated by the GPS unit 108 before and after an apparentcollision event, as indicated by a sudden and significant change inacceleration at internal acceleration sensor 106, to determine if therewas a change in speed consistent with a collision event in order toavoid false collision detections.

Once a collision event has been detected, however, the phone device 104launches a collision response application that allows the user to usethe phone device 104 to access, for example, emergency services in theevent of a severe collision, or a towing service. The phone device 104can also be preprogrammed with insurance contact information to allowthe user of the phone device 104 to easily contact their insurancecarrier. In some embodiments, upon being activated, the collisionresponse application can issue a voice prompt over a loudspeaker of thephone device 104, such as “do you need emergency assistance?” Afterissuing the voice prompt, the phone device can use voice recognitionprocessing to recognize, or attempt to recognize, a voice response. Thevoice response can be a simple “yes” or “no” response from an occupantof the vehicle. In some embodiments, the voice prompt can be repeatedone or more times while waiting for a response during a response waitingperiod. If a voice response is not received within a selected period oftime then the phone device can automatically commence contacting(calling) an appropriate emergency services phone number (e.g. 911).This can also be performed in response to receiving an affirmative voiceresponse (e.g. “yes”). However, if the phone device 104 receives anegative voice response, indicating emergency services are notneeded/desired, then the phone device 104 can offer an opportunity tocontact non-emergency services, such as a towing service, an auto clubfor motorist assistance (which can provide a towing service), insurance,legal, police, and other services. These can be offered as additionalvoice prompts or one a menu displayed on a graphical display screen ofthe phone device 104. If the user selects a service, then the phonedevice 104 can determine a particular service provider to call based onthe location of the phone device, as indicated by the satellite locationreceiver 108 and map program 109.

FIG. 2 is a mapping diagram 200 that shows geo-fenced regions definingservice providers for various services that may be necessary in theevent of a collision in the geo-fenced region, in accordance with someembodiments. A mapping program can be operated by a phone device thatcan be used in conjunction with a collision detection and responseprogram to track a vehicle's location, and determine a location at thetime of a collision. The mapping program uses the phone device'sposition in geolocation coordinates (as indicated by a satellitelocation receiver) to determine its location on a map. The map caninclude roadways 202 on which a present position of a vehicle location204 can be mapped. Furthermore, geo-fenced regions such as regions 206,208 can be defined that associate service providers with the regions206, 208 within the geo-fence, so that if a motorist has a collision,appropriate local service providers associated with the particulargeo-fenced region in which the collision occurred can be contacteddirectly from the collision site using the phone device. This can bemore efficient than, for example, contacting a motor club service tohave them send a service provider that may not be familiar with theregion.

Accordingly, as tracked on a map, a vehicle location 204 can be trackedon a roadway 202, shown here as an interstate highway but it could alsobe a local surface street. The vehicle can have a phone device such asphone device 104 of FIG. 1, and the vehicle can have systems that linkto the phone device such as an external acceleration sensor. The regioncan be defined into geo-fenced regions such as regions 206, 208. Eachregion 206, 208 can have associated with it a listing of serviceproviders 210, 212, respectively. In the event of a collision detection,after, or instead of contacting emergency services, the phone device canprovide the user with a menu (voice and/or graphically) of otherservices that may be of use for the user, such as a towing service,local police for non-emergency needs, motorist assistance, collisionrepair shop, as well as the user's insurance company, a lawyer, andother information that can be of use. The service information associatedwith the various defined geo-fenced regions 206, 208 can be acquired bythe phone device from a server over a cellular data communicationsnetwork upon detecting the occurrence of a collision, based on the phonedevice/vehicle location 204. In some embodiments local service providerscan buy or pay to be listed in the listings of service providers 210,212.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart diagram of a method 300 for an applicationprogram being operated on a phone device to detect and respond to acollision incident, in accordance with some embodiments. The method 300is similar to the method and functionality performed by the phone device104 of FIG. 1. At the start 302, the phone device is on and running acollision detection application program that monitors one or moreacceleration sensors (internally and/or externally) to determine if acollision or similar incident has occurred. As an initial process, thephone device can connect to an external acceleration sensor using, forexample, a local or personal area networking transceiver and a suitablecommunication protocol. The phone device can compare the accelerationmagnitude of both the internal and external acceleration sensors toverify the occurrence of a collision event. If there is no externalacceleration sensor, the phone device can use other ways to determinewhether a collision has occurred, such as detecting an abrupt change ofspeed of the vehicle at the same time as the acceleration change. Insome embodiments, collision detection may be performed only when thevehicle is moving, as indicated in step 304. However, in someembodiments, collision monitoring can be performed without regard tospeed (i.e. when a vehicle is hit when sitting still such as being “rearended”).

In step 306 the output magnitude value of the one or more accelerationsensors is monitored by the phone device and collision detectionapplication program. In step 308, the collision detection program candetermine that the output of one or more acceleration sensors indicatesa collision has occurred. Initially, only the internal accelerationsensor needs to be monitored. If the output of the internal accelerationsensor indicates the occurrence of a sudden acceleration event (i.e.change), then a confirmation process can be performed. That is, thephone device determines whether the phone device has experienced anacceleration greater than a preselected acceleration threshold, and ifso, then a confirmation process is undertaken. In some embodiments theconfirmation process can include comparing the performed by comparingthe output of several acceleration sensors to eliminate false collisiondetections such as if the user drops the phone device. The phone devicecan also use audio received at the microphone of the phone device todetect and verify collisions. Alternatively, the collision detection canbe set to occur at even modest acceleration levels, and prompting theuser can account for avoiding false collision detections. In general,the confirmation process examines an external source, such as anexternal accelerometer, satellite position signals received at thesatellite positioning system receiver, the vehicle system, ambient audiosounds, and so on, in trying to confirm that a collision occurred.

In step 310 the severity of the collision can be determined based on,for example, the magnitude of the detected acceleration(s), whether anairbag has deployed, or other changes in the vehicle that can beascertained through the vehicle computer. The acceleration eventscorresponding to likely collisions can be categorized into severalcategories, from minor to extreme collision likelihood. How the method300 proceeds can be dictated by the indicated severity of the detectedcollision. In response to detecting the collision, in step 312 the phonedevice can automatically issue a voice prompt, such as “do you needassistance?” over a loudspeaker of the phone device. For a more severecollision, the phone device can instead prompt the user with, forexample, “are you hurt?” Thus, the determined severity of the collisioncan determine how the phone device prompts the user.

Furthermore, in steps 308-310, it is contemplated that the vehicle canbe a connected vehicle that has its own communication system, and isconfigured to detect and respond to at least some forms of collisions.However, it is recognized that such a vehicle could be damaged to theextent that it is unable to determine the collision, or unable tocommunicate and report the collision. In such cases, then, the phonedevice can communicate with the vehicle system, or attempt tocommunicate with the vehicle system, and determine that the vehicle isdamaged to the point of being unable to perform its collision reporting.In response, the phone device can be configured to automatically call apre-programmed reporting number or connect to a URL using datacommunications, and report the occurrence of the collision and anindication of the severity of the collision. The report can promptpredisposed response in which emergency services are dispatched by theentity receiving the collision report information.

Upon prompting the user, the phone device can listen for an audibleresponse in step 314. The phone device can then processed received audiosignals output by the phone device's microphone using a speechrecognition program module to recognize spoken words that may be spokenby a user in response to the voice prompt. The phone device, executingthe collision detection program, can recognize spoken responses such as“yes” or “no,” or other responses such as “call help”, includingrecognizing the voice cadence compared to the user's regular voice toadditionally access the occupant's condition. After issuing the voiceprompt, then in step 314 the phone device attempts to recognize a spokenresponse within a time limit. When a spoken response is recognized, instep 316, the phone device can take appropriate further steps. Forexample, if the collision detection was a false detection, or not acollision, then the user can respond “no,” and the method can return tostep 304 or 306. If in step 316 the user indicates assistance is needed,or when no response is received in step 314, the method 300 can proceedto step 320 to initiate contacting the appropriate services based on theseverity of the collision. For example, the phone device can beconfigured to automatically call an emergency services number (e.g. 911)and, upon the call being answered, play a pre-recorded messageindicating that a possible collision has occurred, the vehicle occupantsmay be incapacitated, and then a location of the phone device can beindicated. In some embodiments the location information can betransmitted as coordinate data. In some embodiments the phone device canindicate the name of a nearest road and cross road, as well as adirection and distance from the intersection of roads. In someembodiments, where the user is able to speak and respond, the call canconnect the user to the emergency services operator as a conventionalvoice call. In some embodiments, when the user is able to speak, theuser can be connected to emergency responders (e.g. an ambulance orfire/rescue, or police). This may assist in locating the vehicle as theuser can indicate whether, for example, they can hear sirensapproaching, which can help responders find a vehicle that may have goneoff the roadway into brush, or down an embankment that might otherwiseobscure sight of the vehicle.

Furthermore, the user can be offered a menu of additional services orassistance actions that may be required which the phone device canautomatically contact and allow the user to arrange for the otherservices (e.g. tow service or other motorist assistance, insurancecompany, etc.). For example, step 316 can determine whether urgentservices are needed, and if not, then in step 322 the phone device candetermine whether the user would like other services and, in step 324,display a menu of assistance actions such as “CALL A TOWING SERVICE” or“CALL INSURANCE.” Various services displayed can be associated withservice providers of the geo-fenced region in which the vehicle islocated.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart diagram of a method or process 400 fordetecting a collision at a phone device traveling in a vehicle, inaccordance with some embodiments. The method 400 can be performed, forexample in steps 306, 308 of method 300 of FIG. 3. Therefore, at thestart 402, the phone device is on and operating, in the process ofcarrying out a method substantially similar to that of method 300 ofFIG. 3. In step 404 the internal accelerometer of the phone device ismonitored for sudden changes consistent with an impact. A thresholdexcursion magnitude can be selected (e.g. 2 g—twice that of gravity).The magnitude can be found as the square of the acceleration in each ofthe three axes being summed, and then the square root of the sum of thesquares is calculated to obtain an acceleration magnitude. Since thephone device can be in an arbitrary orientation at the moment of acollision, only the magnitude of the total acceleration vector need beused. Until the acceleration magnitude exceeds the selected threshold,step 404 is essentially looped or otherwise a waiting point.

When the acceleration magnitude, as indicated by the phone device'sinternal accelerometer, exceeds the selected threshold, then the method400 proceeds to step 406 in which an external accelerometer output ischecked. The external accelerometer is located in the vehicle,preferably attached to the vehicle or otherwise fixed in place in thevehicle, and is communicatively linked with the phone device via a localor personal area networking protocol. The external accelerometer can beconfigured to transmit an alert if it experiences an accelerationmagnitude greater than a preselected threshold, and the time of thetransmission can be used to correlate the event with the time of theevent indicated by the internal accelerometer. In some embodiments theexternal accelerometer can be configured to maintain a recent history ofacceleration that can be queried by the phone device via the networklink. Other configurations will occur to those skilled in the art whichoperate equivalently.

There are three options at step 406; either the external accelerometerdid not experience a corresponding acceleration event, it did experiencea corresponding acceleration event, or there is no externalaccelerometer. When the external accelerometer is present, but does notindicate that is experienced a similar acceleration event at the sametime as that experienced by the phone device, then the method returns tostep 404. In this case it is likely that the phone device was dropped.When the external accelerometer indicates that it did experience acorresponding acceleration event, then the method proceeds to step 408where it is decided that a collision has likely occurred. From step 408,then, the method can proceed to step 310 of method 300 in FIG. 3.

In the case where there is no external accelerometer, then after step404 where an acceleration event was detected by the internalaccelerometer, the method can perform alternative processing byproceeding to step 410 where one or more alternative processes forconfirming whether a collision occurred can be performed. For example,in step 410 the phone device can compare speed in the change ofgeolocation position before and after the acceleration event, asindicated by a satellite positioning receiver. That is, a first speed orspeed value determined before the acceleration event can be compared toa second speed after the acceleration event and if the differenceindicates that there has been a sufficiently abrupt decrease in speed,then it is likely a collision has occurred and the method commences tostep 408 for further processing. However, if a sufficient speed changecannot be determined, which can happen if, for example, a collisionoccurred while the vehicle was stationary, then a different process canbe used such as that indicated in step 412 where the phone device canquery the vehicle computer (e.g. using a networked dongle). For example,if the vehicle indicates that an air bag has been deployed, then thatwould be sufficient to indicate that a collision has occurred and themethod can proceed to step 408 for further processing. If no otherconfirmation can be found in other steps 410, 412, then a defaultprocess can be performed in step 414. In the default process, the usercan select how to handle detection of an acceleration event, that can'tbe corroborated by other means. For example, the user can configure thephone device to prompt the user, and depending on the response (or noresponse) the method can proceed to step 408, as indicated by line 416,or to step 404, as indicated by line 418. This process may also serve asa fail-safe algorithm for connected cars when its embedded responsedevices get damaged due to the accident.

FIG. 5 is an event comparison 500 showing an acceleration event detectedby a phone that is not confirmed by an external acceleration sensor, inaccordance with some embodiments. In this example the output 502 of aninternal accelerometer of a phone device is compared with the output 504of an external accelerometer located in a vehicle and which is incommunication with the phone device. The horizontal axes represent time,increase from left to right, and the vertical axes represent magnitudeof the output in all three dimensions. In the output 502 of the internalaccelerometer, an acceleration excursion 506 is experienced at a giventime. The excursion exceeds a threshold indicated by lines 510, 512.Here the magnitude can be positive or negative, but the absolute valueof the magnitude could also be used equivalently.

In comparing the output 502 of the internal accelerometer with theoutput 504 of the external accelerometer, it can be seen, in thisexample, that there is no corresponding change in acceleration at time508. Therefore the external accelerometer did not experience acorresponding change in acceleration, and it is unlikely that thevehicle was involved in a collision. In this case, then, in the method400 of FIG. 4, the “no” branch out of step 406 would be followed.

FIG. 6 is an event comparison 600 showing an acceleration event detectedby a phone that is confirmed by an external acceleration sensor, inaccordance with some embodiments. As with FIG. 5, in this example theoutput 602 of an internal accelerometer of a phone device is comparedwith the output 604 of an external accelerometer located in a vehicleand which is in communication with the phone device. An excursion 606indicated by the output 602 of the internal accelerometer corresponds toa similar excursion 608 at the output 604 of the external accelerometer.Accordingly, it can be determined that a collision likely occurred asboth the phone device and vehicle experienced a substantial change inacceleration at the same time. In such cases, then, in FIG. 4, themethod 400 would proceed from step 404 to step 406, and then to step408.

FIG. 7 is a an event comparison 700 showing an acceleration eventdetected by a phone that is not confirmed by a corresponding change inspeed, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, theoutput 702 of an internal accelerometer indicates a sudden change inacceleration in excursion 706. The output 702 is compared with the speed704 of the vehicle, as indicated by the output of a satellite locationreceiver also in the phone device. However, magnitude 708 of the speed704 indicates no change. Accordingly, there has likely been no collisionexperienced by the vehicle. Looking to the method of FIG. 4, then, thisprocess is examined in steps 404 and 410.

However, the magnitude 708 of the speed 704 is positive, meaning thevehicle is in motion. If the magnitude 708 of the speed 704 were zero,or very low, then it may be indeterminate as to whether a collisionoccurred as the vehicle may be stationary after a collision as well asbefore. Thus, such a situation would be handled by the default settingthat is processed in step 414 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is an event comparison 800 showing an acceleration event detectedby a phone that is confirmed by a corresponding change in speed, inaccordance with some embodiments. Again, the output 802 of an internalaccelerometer is compared with the magnitude 808 of the vehicle speed806. Here, upon occurrence of an excursion 806 in the output 802 of theinternal accelerometer, it can be seen that a substantial change inspeed occurred as the magnitude 808 of the speed goes from a steadylevel, dropping quickly at the same time as the excursion 806, to bezero, or very low. This combination of events would be more likelyindicative that the vehicle experienced a collision. Thus, in method400, the processing would go from step 410 to step 408.

In some embodiments the phone device does not include an internalaccelerometer. In such case, however, the phone device cancommunicatively link with an external accelerometer and follow a similarprocess of detecting an acceleration excursion and confirming it withanother component to determine the likelihood that the detectedacceleration excursion is the result of a collision. For example, whilenot all phone devices have an internal accelerometer, most modern phonedevices have a satellite location receiver, and can therefore determinea speed at which the phone device is moving. Thus, an accelerationexcursion detected at an external accelerometer can be compared withspeed, similar to that of FIGS. 7-8, to determine whether a collisionhas likely occurred or not.

FIG. 9 is a system diagram of a system 900 for assisting a user in theevent of an accident or collision, in accordance with some embodiments.A user can be a passenger or driver in a vehicle 902 that hasexperienced a collision. The user has a phone device that operates inaccordance with the teachings of the previous examples herein. The phonedevice can be used to connect to a cellular base station 904 using acellular communication link 906. Upon determining that a collision hasoccurred by, for example, performing methods 300, 400, the phone devicecan prompt the user as to whether the user needs assistance. In someembodiments the phone device can automatically call an emergencyservices number to be connected with an emergency dispatch operator 922using a public switched telephone network 920. For example, if the userdoes not respond to a voice prompt, or if the user responds in theaffirmative to needing emergency assistance, the phone device can thencall the emergency service dispatch 922. In cases where the collision isless severe, the user can alternatively have the phone device call someother service for assistance, such as, for example, a towing service924.

The phone device can acquire information regarding nearby serviceproviders from a traffic map service 912 using a data communicationsession via the internet 910. The traffic map service 912 maintains amap or maps 914 that can be divided into one or more geo-fenced regions916. For each geo-fenced region 916 the server 912 can have acorresponding services list 918 that indicates the phone numbers ofvarious entities in the geo-fenced region. Thus, when the phone devicecontacts the server 912, it can indicate its location using eithergeo-coordinates or a nearby road 908 designator. The server 912 can thendetermine which geo-fenced region 916 the vehicle 902 is in, andtransmit the contact information for various services that may be ofinterest of assistance. Those numbers can then be used by the phonedevice to contact the entities associated with the number(s), at thedirection of the user.

FIG. 10 shows a block schematic diagram of a phone device 1000 that canbe configured to detect and respond to experiencing a vehicularcollision, in accordance with some embodiments. The phone device 1000includes a controller 1002 that comprises a processor and associatedlogic and other circuitry. The controller 1002 performs instruction codethat can be stored in a memory 1004. As used here, the memory 1004represents an aggregate of various forms of memory that can beinterfaced with the controller 1002, including read only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), flash memory, etc. The memory 1004 thereforeis circuitry that can include active and passive circuits, activecircuits being those whose state can be changed (e.g. “1” to “0”), andpassive circuits being those whose state is fixed (e.g. “1” or “0”).Some forms of memory are “non-volatile,” meaning information encoded inthem persists when there is no power applied to the memory. Instructioncode is provided in the memory 1004 and is designed to cause the phonedevice to carry out the functionality described herein.

The controller 1002 is further interface with several radioreceiver/transceiver circuits, including a satellite positioning systemreceiver 1006, a cellular transceiver 1008, and local area networking(“WiFi”) transceiver 1010, and a personal area network transceiver 1012(e.g. BLUETOOTH). The satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 1006can be substantially the same as that described in FIG. 1 as satellitepositioning receiver 108. The cellular transceiver 1008 can operateusing both voice and data channels of the air interface of a cellulartelephony/communications system, as is well known. Each of thesesub-systems 1006-1012 include the requisite circuitry for filtering,amplification, demodulation, modulation, encryption/decryption, and soon, and can receive data to be transmitted from the controller 1002, andprovide data that has been received to the controller 1002. Inparticular, the PAN transceiver 1012, as well as the local areatransceiver 1010, allow the phone device to connect with other, nearbydevice, such as, for example, an external accelerometer that can islocated in a vehicle.

The controller 1002 is also coupled or interfaced with an internalaccelerometer 1014 that indicates acceleration in a plurality oforthogonal axes. The internal accelerometer 1014 can include a memorythat stores recent acceleration measurements of all of the axes.Alternatively, the internal accelerometer 1014 can provide an output ofacceleration upon being queried or otherwise signaled by the controller1002. In some embodiments the internal accelerometer can further beprovided with an acceleration magnitude value that represents athreshold for initiating a determination as to whether a collision hasoccurred. The acceleration magnitude value can be stored in the internalaccelerometer 1014, and if the total acceleration magnitude exceeds theacceleration magnitude value the internal accelerometer 1014 can signalthe controller (e.g. using an interrupt), and upon receiving the signal,the controller 1002 can then commence performing instruction code todetermine whether a collision has occurred, as indicated, for example,in method 400.

The phone device 1000 further includes an audio processor 1016 which canproduce an analog electric signal, from a digital audio data source,that is provided to one or more speakers 1018 (e.g. a loudspeaker, anearpiece, etc.). A microphone 1020 is used to convert acoustic signalsto electric audio signals, and the audio processor 1016 can furtherconvert the electric audio signals to digital audio signals that can be,for example, transmitted via the cellular transceiver 1008. In someembodiments there can be a direct connection between the audio processor1016 and the cellular transceiver 1008 for voice calling.

The phone device 1000 further includes a display and input system 1022.Most present day phone devices include a graphic display that is capableof sensing touch input. Furthermore, there can be buttons or switchesthat are used to, for example, adjust audio volume, turn the phonedevice on and off, and so on.

The inventive embodiments of the disclosure provide a phone device orequivalent mobile computing device to determine whether a vehicle inwhich the device is located has experienced an accident or collision,and in response to a determination that a collision has likely occurred,the device can prompt the user to facilitate the user in seekingappropriate assistance. Based on the location of the vehicle, the phonedevice is able to contact nearby entities that can provide assistancebased on assigning particular entities to geo-fenced regions. Thus, thephone device can commence initiating communication with a nearby serviceprovider who has been assigned to the geo-fenced region in which thevehicle is located. The user of the phone does not need to look up whatservice providers are in the region, which can be difficult.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, as well as in derivative documents such asnon-provisional conversions, continuations, divisionals, andcontinuations in part, relational terms such as first and second, topand bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity oraction from another entity or action without necessarily requiring orimplying any actual such relationship or order between such entities oractions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,”“includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variationthereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that aprocess, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes,contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but mayinclude other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process,method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises . . .a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not,without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identicalelements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises,has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are definedas one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms“substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any otherversion thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one ofordinary skill in the art, and in one non-limiting embodiment the termis defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, in anotherembodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. The term“coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although notnecessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device orstructure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in atleast that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as computer program productin a non-transient computer-readable storage medium having computerreadable code stored thereon for programming a computer (e.g.,comprising a processor) that is configured to perform a method asdescribed and claimed herein. More particularly, the computer programproduct can contain instruction code that configures a phone device tocarry out various functions described herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description as part of theoriginal disclosure, and remain so even if cancelled from the claimsduring prosecution of the application, with each claim standing on itsown as a separately claimed subject matter. Furthermore, subject matternot shown should not be assumed to be necessarily present, and that insome instances it may become necessary to define the claims by use ofnegative limitations, which are supported herein by merely not showingthe subject matter disclaimed in such negative limitations.

We claim:
 1. A method for detecting and responding to a collisionincident by a phone device, comprising: monitoring an acceleration of avehicle in which the phone device is located as indicated by an outputof an internal accelerometer of the phone device; detecting, in theoutput of the internal accelerometer, an acceleration event indicativeof a possible collision event being experienced by the vehicle;responsive to detecting the acceleration event in the output of theinternal accelerometer indicating the possible collision event, thephone device comparing a speed prior to occurrence of the accelerationevent as indicated by a satellite location receiver of the phone devicewith a speed after occurrence of the acceleration event as indicated bythe satellite location receiver; further responsive to detecting theoccurrence of the acceleration event in the output of the internalaccelerometer and only when the phone device has determined that achange of speed corresponding to the acceleration event has occurred inaddition to detecting the occurrence of the acceleration event in theoutput of the internal accelerometer, the phone device automaticallyissuing a voice prompt to elicit a response from a vehicle occupant;when no voice response is received within a preselected time frame, thephone device automatically calling an emergency services number andissuing a pre-recorded message indicating a collision has occurred, andfurther issuing location information to an emergency services callcenter; when a voice response is received, the phone device performingan action corresponding to the voice response; and the phone devicedisplaying a menu of additional optional actions that can be taken,wherein at least one of the additional optional actions is based on alocation of the collision event.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising, responsive to detecting the acceleration event in the outputof the internal accelerometer, determining that there is no externalaccelerometer available to confirm the collision event, and whereincomparing the speed prior to, and after occurrence of the accelerationevent is performed responsive further to determining there is noexternal accelerometer available.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinperforming the action corresponding to the voice response comprisesautomatically calling the emergency services number and issuing apre-recorded message indicating a collision has occurred, and furtherissuing location information to the emergency services call center. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the additionaloptions that is based on a location of the collision event is determinedby a geo-fenced region.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein automaticallycalling the emergency services number comprises calling an emergencyservices number corresponding to the geo-fenced region, wherein theemergency services number is received from a remote server.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the phone device, in response toautomatically calling the emergency services number, connecting to anemergency responder.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingpublishing the location information in a traffic map server that allowsthe phone device to access a traffic map.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising the phone device, in response to automaticallycalling the emergency services number, the phone device communicating anindication of a severity of the collision.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising: in response to detecting the acceleration event,determining that a communication system of the vehicle is damaged; andin response to determining that the communication system of the vehicleis damaged, the phone device automatically calling a pre-programmednumber to report a location of the vehicle.
 10. A computer programproduct including a non-transient memory on which instruction code isstored, the instruction code being configured to control a phone devicehaving a controller, an internal accelerometer, and a personal areanetwork transceiver, wherein upon being performed by the controller, theinstruction code configures the phone device to: monitor an output ofthe internal accelerometer to determine whether the phone device hasexperienced an acceleration greater than a preselected accelerationthreshold; in response to the acceleration being greater than apreselected acceleration threshold, communicate with an externalaccelerometer and determine whether the external accelerometerexperienced a corresponding change in acceleration; only when theexternal accelerometer indicates the corresponding change inacceleration occurred, the instruction code further configures the phonedevice to: issue a voice prompt over a loudspeaker in response toacceleration being confirmed by the external source; and either call anemergency services number if no voice response is received within apreselected time period after the voice prompt, or perform an actionthat corresponds to a voice response received at the phone device withinthe preselected time period.
 11. The computer program product of claim10, wherein the instruction code further configures the phone device todetermine a difference between a first speed prior to the accelerationchange and a second speed after the acceleration change, wherein thespeed is indicated by an output of a satellite positioning receiver inthe phone device.
 12. The computer program product of claim 10, whereinthe instruction code that configures the phone device to perform theaction that corresponds to the voice response comprises instruction codethat configures the phone device to call the emergency services numberand issue a pre-recorded message indicating that a collision hasoccurred.
 13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein theinstruction code that configures the phone device to perform the actionthat corresponds to the voice response comprises instruction code thatconfigures the phone device to determine a location of the phone device,determine a defined geo-fenced region in which the location of the phonedevice is located, and display a list of services associated withservice providers associated with the geo-fenced region.
 14. Thecomputer program product of claim 10, wherein the instruction code thatconfigures the phone device to all the emergency services numbercomprises instruction code that configures the phone device to furthercommunicate an indication of a severity of a collision which caused thechange in acceleration.
 15. A method for detecting and responding to avehicle collision, by a phone device, comprising: the phone devicedetecting, at an internal accelerometer of the phone device, a change inacceleration that exceeds a preselected acceleration threshold; upondetecting the change in acceleration, the phone device confirming, bycommunicating with an external accelerometer, whether a correspondingchange in acceleration was experienced by the external accelerometer;when the external accelerometer indicates the corresponding change inacceleration occurred, the phone device automatically performing one ofa plurality of assistance actions; and when the external accelerometerdoes not indicate the corresponding change of acceleration occurred, thephone device determining that a collision did not occur.
 16. The methodof claim 15, further comprising, determining, by a satellite positioningsystem receiver in the phone device that is configured to receive anddecode satellite positioning signals received from positioningsatellites, a first speed prior to the change in acceleration, and asecond speed after the change in acceleration, and a difference betweenthe first speed and the second speed.
 17. The method of claim 15,wherein automatically performing one of a plurality of assistanceactions comprises: issuing a voice prompt; and when no voice response isreceived within a preselected time period, the phone deviceautomatically calling an emergency services number.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, wherein automatically performing one of a plurality ofassistance actions comprises: issuing a voice prompt; receiving a voiceresponse within a preselected time period; and performing an actioncorresponding to the voice response.